Warkentien, whose contract wasn’t renewed by the Nuggets in August, will be a “high-level consultant,” according to the report, though that role is likely to expand to a larger responsibility in the future.

A major reason for Warkentien’s hire, according to the report, was his close relationship with Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony. The Knicks are in hot pursuit of Anthony through a trade.

Warkentien was named the league’s top executive after the Nuggets’ run to the Western Conference finals in 2008-09. Among key moves he made was trading for Denver native Chauncey Billups.

Kenyon Martin is reading the tea leaves. They are telling him this is probably his last year with the Nuggets. If that’s the case he says he can deal with it. It’s just that he would have liked the organization to show him the respect of at least offering another contract.

But the Nuggets haven’t. And Martin, who will make roughly $16.5 million in the last year of what was a seven-year, $90 million deal that started in 2004, isn’t taking the snub lightly.

“I don’t want to leave,” Martin said this afternoon. “I love the guys, I love the organization. But I understand if that is going to be the case. They haven’t said anything all summer. Wait. They said something; they gave Al (Harrington) the money. I don’t have any problem with Al, but me and Al play the same position. I think I’ve helped around here. I don’t think I’ve been that big of a problem. I think I’ve helped win a few games here and there.”

J.R. Smith celebrates a 3-pointer last March making him the Nugget's franchise leader in 3-pointers. (Tim Rasmussen, The Denver Post)

The news isn’t so much that the Nuggets are looking to trade J.R. Smith, a subject I discussed at length on 104.3 The Fan on Saturday, which included the item that the team had tried to move him on at least two occasions.

That was the easy part as soon as Mark Warkentien, who routinely stood in the way of trading Smith, was let go.

“We thank Phoenix for winning that game last night,” Carmelo Anthony said after Denver’s practice this afternoon.

Melo actually didn’t watch the game – “I didn’t feel like watching any basketball yesterday. I was just chilling with the family, trying to get my mind right” — but he got a bunch of texts from friends, telling him that Utah would be the first-round opponent, not those darn Suns.

And – the win gave Denver homecourt advantage and the division title.

“But now our focus is on Utah,” said Anthony, third in the NBA with 28.2 points per game. “We have confidence, knowing we’ve been successful against them this season. But they’ll have some schemes and strategies.”

The Nuggets believe that Utah forward Carlos Boozer, who sat out Wednesday with a rib strain, will play in the game on Saturday at Pepsi Center. Or that’s what Denver is anticipating.

Meanwhile, Denver’s power forward Kenyon Martin rested his left knee in practice today, but Martin said he will be good to go on Saturday.

“That’s big for us,” Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups said. “Everybody knows the presence he has, and we just need it – rebounding the ball, defensively and knowing the game of basketball.”

The series provides a fascinating storyline – Jazz legend Adrian Dantley is Denver’s acting coach. After practice, Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien made a point to congratulate Dantley in front of the media, praising the work of the acting coach.

The Johan-Petro-Plays-Well phase of the season is as good a story as the Nuggets have had all year. His play is paying off for the Nuggets at a critical point, and could pay off for Petro next season in a multi-year contract.

But first thing’s first. The Nuggets have benefited. For all of the talk about adding another post player for ‘insurance’ leading up to, and even after the trade deadline, Petro, apparently was all the Nuggets really needed. With Kenyon Martin out for an unknown period of time, Nuggets brass went so far as to work out free agent centers Brian Cook and Jake Voskuhl in effort to fully explore the possibilities out there.

And then Petro happened, proving one thing to Nuggets vice president of basketball operations, Mark Warkentien:

“I think the lesson from a personnel side,” he said. “is the grass isn’t always greener.”

Since his playing time increased to 21.6 minutes six games ago, Petro has averaged 6.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and is shooting 63 percent from the field. He’s got two double-doubles, three double-digit rebounding games and is doing the lion’s share of the work to make up for Martin’s absence.

When the Nuggets traded for Petro last season, it was solely as a guy to help the team get under the luxury tax threshold. And it worked. What they didn’t necessarily know at the time was they were getting a player that had potential to be a nice complimentary piece in the future.

That was until they got him on the Pepsi Center practice court.

“Almost immediately our coaching staff said ‘Hey this guy is an NBA player, give us time. He’ll be a player,’” Warkentien said. “This summer when we were looking at the bigs available at minimum (cost), this guy is a guy they asked for. Our guys asked for him and recruited him. He’s the guy they wanted all along. Johan has worked everyday and they have worked everyday to get this guy there. And for all of their efforts, that tree is bearing fruit.”

Petro nearly signed with the Hawks during the summer, but opted to sign a one-year deal with the Nuggets, which is paying him $884,881.

“We looked, and always will look to improve the roster,” Warkentien said. “Our benchmark all along was we’ve got to get a guy who’s better than Johan, or it makes no sense. Obviously everybody feels good about it. The thing that I think it reflects is what an outstanding teaching staff we have, in terms of our coaching staff.

“Most guys, most situations at this time of the year, the guy wouldn’t be in very good shape, not sharp enough to go, etc. etc. Our young guys really do a good job of developing players. I’ll guarantee you Johan is a better player today than when he was in fall camp. When someone tells you that coaching doesn’t matter in the NBA, think again and check the Johan Petro files.”
Chris Dempsey: cdempsey@denverpost.com

CLEVELAND — “We like our team,” Mark Warkentien said yesterday, and a day later, he’s still got that team — currently No. 2 in the West. The Nuggets didn’t make a trade today as the deadline expired a few minutes ago. The Nuggets did make a push today for Tyrus Thomas, a NBA source said, while trying to trade a future first-rounder, but the Bulls ultimately opted for a deal with Charlotte. The Nuggets do have the $1.99 million biannual exception they could use on an available signee by March 1, but there aren’t many viable options right now.

The chances of the Nuggets making a trade by Thursday’s trade deadline are slim – “We’re always looking to improve our team, but we’re not going to let restlessness become our nemesis,” vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien said Wednesday afternoon. “We like our team, we like our guys.”

The Nuggets, the No. 2 team in the West, are currently over the luxury-tax line and don’t have that many tradable commodities, due to the fact that J.R. Smith is a player the team wants to keep. There is a desire in Denver to add an addition low-post player, but the Nuggets aren’t just going to nab the first available guy. A NBA source said the team has inquired about former Nugget Antonio McDyess, but the likelihood of the Spurs forward returning “would be very surprising,” the source said.

The Nuggets have been inquiring about what types of players they could get in a deal involving a future first-round draft pick, but nothing enticing has come of that.

More realistically, Denver will bolster its roster by March 1 via a buyout and using its $1.99 million bi-annual exception. Players who are bought out are eligible to join a team and be on the playoff roster, if the transaction happens by March 1. One enticing name circulating is Drew Gooden, the former Mavericks power forward who was shipped to lowly Washington this past weekend.

On a weekend when the Nuggets organization should be popping champagne to celebrate having a large footprint in the All-Star game, and weekend as a whole, there’s going to be a fair amount of nail-biting when coach George Karl’s contract officially becomes a national issue.

And while there is very real skepticism among many hardcore Nuggets fans, who foolishly or not wonder if Karl is the right coach to take the team to a title, the rest of the nation is simply going to wonder why he hasn’t been locked into a new deal.

They’ll wonder why the seventh all-time winningest coach in NBA history, a four-time All-Star coach, second-winningest coach in franchise history, a coach whose team is currently second in the Western Conference with the fourth-best record in all of basketball, a coach who has not had a losing season in 17 years, a coach whose team was in the Western Conference Finals a year ago after taking it over with a 17-25 record in 2005, is being made to twist in the wind?

Usually, that’s the kind of coach that pretty much gets what he wants. In this case, that’s not the case. At least not yet. The decision Nuggets’ owner Stan Kroenke has to make balances the worth of the weight of Karl’s credentials vs. where he feels Karl can take the team in the future, given budget constraints. That’s not an easy contract term and money to find common ground on.

While he’s mulling the options, the organization could be put through a national meat grinder.

All-Star Weekend is the NBA’s Super Bowl. Media from all over the country attend, and while there are many other intriguing storylines, the All-Star Coach Who Has No Contract story will be near the top of the list.

The organization can ask/order Karl not to say anything when the questions flood in. Karl could elect to clam up on his own. But just the mere presence of that elephant in the room could turn the dimmer switch down a bit on an organization that has shined in the past few years because of savvy front office decisions.

As of now, Karl is in the last year of a six-year contract that is paying him $3 million plus incentives. The team picked up a three-year option on the deal in 2006.

According to Forbes magazine, it puts him well behind other coaches, based on last season’s figures. Some have won titles in their careers such as the Lakers’ Phil Jackson ($10 million salary), Celtics Doc Rivers ($5.5 million) and Charlotte’s Larry Brown ($7 million); and others still look to reach the mountaintop such as the Knicks’ Mike D’Antoni ($6 million) and Golden State’s Don Nelson ($6 million).

As a whole, NBA coaches are the highest paid of any professional sport at an average around $4 million. It means Karl is being paid below-average for above-average work.

This is what Kroenke said in 2006 when he picked up Karl’s option: “As we’ve said all along, we’re committed to building a championship-caliber team. The cornerstone of all championship teams is excellent coaches and players, and a passionate fan base.”

In 2003, Detroit fired Rick Carlisle, who won 100 games in two seasons, in favor of Brown because that organization felt the new guy could expedite the process of getting the Pistons a championship. We’ll never know if Carlisle could have done it, but the Brown gamble paid off in an NBA title the first season after he was hired.

Do the Nuggets take a similar path by letting Karl walk because they can’t come to an agreement? It assumes there’s a coach out there capable of finishing off what Karl started at a cheaper price. That’s a big assumption.

There are roster expenditures to think about. Carmelo Anthony is a max contract player. His negotiations are coming up next season as he can terminate his contract and become an unrestricted free agent in 2011. Nene can do the same thing next season. J.R. Smith will be in the last year of his contract next season, so a decision has to be made there. Kenyon Martin will be in the last year of his contract. Chauncey Billups will be in the last guaranteed year under his current contract.

The only Nuggets with guaranteed contracts beyond the 2011-12 season are Chris Andersen, Renaldo Balkman, and most likely Ty Lawson, but the team has to pick up the rookie’s option next season to make it official. All of this with a shrinking NBA salary cap, and a collective-bargaining agreement decision looming in December that could result in a lockout in 2011-12.

Karl isn’t the only front office decision Kroenke has on his plate. The Nuggets’ vice president of basketball operations, Mark Warkentien, a man who just won the NBA’s Executive of the Year in 2009, does not have a contract beyond this year. There is no doubt he’ll be coveted if he hits the market with others willing to pay more than he’s making with the Nuggets.

Where all of this ends up remains to be seen, but one thing is for certain – the basketball world’s attention will shine a bright light on the Karl issue beginning in just three short days. Kroenke is going to have to ride out the storm.

If you think the Nuggets organization would sit back and watch this season collapse without doing something about it personnel-wise, you would need to rethink that.

By a long shot.

Though Denver is expected to be one of the best teams in the NBA this season, Nuggets vice president of basketball operations Mark Warkentien said the organization would not be hesitant to make a deal to improve the team if the circumstances warrant doing so.

“We’ll see where we’re at,” Warkentien said. “I think one thing, and history’s proven it, if we indeed have slipped and we get to that analysis, I think our group has proven that we’ll take the driver out and give it a big swing.”

In addition to accomplishing the priority of re-signing forward Chris Andersen, the Nuggets made a series of small moves during the summer to maintain the continuity of the team. Some fans were a bit antsy that the Nuggets didn’t bring in a big-name free agent ala San Antonio, which added Richard Jefferson or the Lakers, who added Ron Artest.

But the Nuggets have made big moves in the past. The last two being the Chauncey Billups trade last season, and the Allen Iverson trade two years prior to that. But Warkentien stresses that the Nuggets are not just satisfied right now, but confident with what they’ve done and where they stand in the Western Conference.

“We’re in a good spot,” Warkentien said. “If we get stuck, Big Bertha’s coming out. Big Bertha’s still in the bag. We’ve swung that stick before. Institutionally, we’re not afraid to make a move. We’ll pull the trigger.”

……

In the first few days of his first training camp in Denver, Chauncey Billups took a while before once again assuming a vocal leadership role.

“It’s funny, I talked with (Nuggets coach) George (Karl) a couple of days ago, and he was saying ‘Chauncey I need you to step your leadership up in camp,’” Billups said. “And I was telling him that this is all by design because I wasn’t in (Nuggets) camp last year. So my whole mindset was the first week or two weeks was just to fall back and not say too much to see how camp is. This is my first camp with ya’ll. I don’t know how you really do things. Let me just fall in line. Then I’m going to be me after that.”

He has been himself of late. And what Billups has seen thus far in practices brings a smile to his face.

“I’ve come from some great teams where our practices a lot of times were more intense and better than our games,” he said. “I thought that made our games easy. For us, and what we’re doing, we’ve been really having some great practices, competing really, really hard. Everybody challenging each other. The competitive spirit. That’s something that they haven’t seen around here. That makes you better.”

……

Charlotte’s Larry Brown, Memphis’ Lionel Hollins and Orlando’s Stan Van Gundy and their organizations have been fined a combined $215,000 for criticizing the new, replacement officials during the preseason.

Nuggets coach George Karl, speaking specifically about Brown’s fines, doesn’t want to be the next on that list.

“I’m thankful it’s him and not me,” Karl quipped. “They (the NBA) did say that the fines are going to be expensive and steep. And $120,000 for complaining about referees is high.”

……

Karl wants to see his team take the last three preseason games with a near-regular season attitude.

“We’re doing a lot of good things defensively,” Karl said. “Offensively I think we’re a little behind the curve,” Karl said. “There’s rationalizations and reasons that are somewhat acceptable. But I think we have to be pretty serious these next three exhibition games, play the right way.”

Last season’s emphasis on defense in training camp caused a lengthy stretch at the start of the regular season where the Nuggets were out of synch on offense. Karl does not think that will be an issue this season, but he’d like to see progress made before the regular season starts next week.

Interestingly enough, one of the red flags in Karl’s head has been his team’s relative lack of taking 3-point shots. Not making them. Taking them. The Nuggets are 18 of 60 from beyond the arc in the preseason. For comparison’s sake, Nuggets’ opponents are 39 of 115 from the 3-point line.

“For whatever reason I don’t think we’ve gotten the pace of the game the way we want to play, the way I want to play,” Karl said. “I don’t think we’re shooting threes because I don’t think we’re running hard, I don’t think we’re penetrating enough and I don’t think we’re passing enough. To be the aggressive team on almost every possession takes energy, takes concentration, takes a lot of focus. I think sometimes we get it, sometimes we don’t.”

Yet, in the last three years the Nuggets have done very little drafting and a whole lot of trading draft picks away. Until this year’s second-rounder, the Nuggets have had just one pick in the last three years. And there is a chance the team could trade this pick away as well.

On Friday, Warkentien, the Nuggets vice president of basketball operations, offered up an explanation on why the draft actually has been good to the Nuggets and why pick or not, the draft will continue to be the Nuggets’ friend.

“When we picked up J.R. Smith, we had two second round picks,” Warkentien said. “At the end of the day, we valued J.R. Smith more than the second round picks. At the end of the day, we viewed Allen Iverson as a better asset (than the two first round draft picks), and that became Chauncey (Billups).

“Yeah, we do value the picks. We value the draft highly. But we love Chauncey Billups better than those picks. Liked J.R. better than those picks. Last year, we liked Sonny Weems better than having a future second-round pick. In that case, we bet on Sonny. In this case, which bet do you want to make? There’s a lot of media attention to the draft, and there’s a lot of focus on it because most people understand who the players are and whatever. But the draft is just another way of making your team better.”

For a long time, the draft was just something to pass the time. The Nuggets don’t have a great draft history.

In the 1980s, when drafts were as large as 10 rounds, the Nuggets selected 73 players. Only 15 of those players suited up for the Nuggets. Of those 15, only Blair Rasmussen (6), Jerome Lane (4) and Todd Lichti (4) played more than three seasons for the team. Not a great decade.

But there were a few gems over time. This year’s draft is on Thursday, and I’ve compiled the best and worsts drafts in Nuggets NBA history.

– Except for Grant, every single player in those four drafts played for the Nuggets. More importantly their highest picks, Rauf (who was Chris Jackson when the Nuggets drafted him), Mutombo, Ellis and Rogers became the key cogs in Denver’s now second-most memorable playoff run in 1993 when the Nuggets upset the top-seeded SuperSonics before losing in seven games to the Utah Jazz. At 43, Mutombo is still in the NBA after 18 seasons, though a knee injury suffered in this past season’s playoffs might end it. Rogers, who played 12 seasons, was tragically paralyzed in an ATV accident almost seven months ago.

– Carmelo Anthony might not have been who the Nuggets would have taken if they had the No. 2 pick, but the basketball gods smiled on the franchise, leaving there no choice but to take Anthony with the No. 3 pick. Anthony had the best season of his career in 2008-09, clearly establishing himself as the face of the franchise, leading the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals. Anthony alone makes this a phenomenal draft. The Nuggets won 17 games the year before he arrived, and 43 (and a playoff berth) his first season with the team. Becirovic has not, and probably will not, play for the Nuggets, but interestingly enough the guy has been a winner on nearly every team he’s played for in Europe. He won the 2002 Italian Cup with Vitus Bologna. He won the 2005 Super Italian Cup with Climamio Bologna. He won the 2006-07 Euroleague championship, two Greek Cups (2007, 2008) and two Greek championships (2007, 2008) with Panathinaikos.

– I know, I know. Just follow me here. The Tskitishvili pick was bad, particularly because pretty much no one laid eyes on him in person before drafting him. Not Tskitishvili’s fault, though. The best part of this draft was what the Nuggets were able to do with Williams. The Nuggets traded the draft rights to Williams along with forward Antonio McDyess and a future second round pick to the New York Knicks for center Marcus Camby, guard Mark Jackson and the draft rights to Nene. They waived Jackson before the season. Camby won the Defensive Player of the Year with the Nuggets and helped the team to five straight playoffs. Nene blossomed this season and is expected to be a leader on the team for years to come.

This class of 12 draftees was the biggest class the Nuggets have ever drafted. And out of this haul, only Ray, Nicks, Oldham and Valentine played for the Nuggets the next season. By 1981, only Ray was left on the team. He played three seasons with the Nuggets, but was never more than a bit player for the team – not the value they wanted out of the fifth overall pick. The Nuggets did not re-sign him when his contract expired after the 1982-83 season.

– The Nuggets were in need of an outside shooter that season – and they drafted Hodge, whose biggest weakness was his outside shot. He held on with the franchise for two seasons, and now writes an internet blog while playing overseas and waiting for his next chance in the NBA. The draft rights to Jarrett Jack were traded for the draft rights to Linas Kleiza, which can be seen as mostly a wash, though Jack played much better than Kleiza last season. The Nuggets still have the rights to Hervelle, who is likely to never see the light of day with the organization. He did show up to summer league two seasons ago but did not play. Anyway, his play overseas has reportedly declined and he signed a three-year contract last summer for over a million Euro per year.

– Draft rights to Tyronn Lue, along with Tony Battie, were traded to Los Angeles for guard Nick Van Exel. The Nuggets won 14 games the following season which, incidentally, was also the first for Denver-native Chauncey Billups in a Nuggets uniform. Fowlkes never played for the Nuggets, and didn’t even play in the NBA until the 2001-02 season with the L.A. Clippers. LaFrentz was serviceable, but certainly not a top-three pick in a draft that saw Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Dirk Nowitzki and Paul Pierce taken after him. At least hustle-happy Ryan Bowen grew into a fan-favorite.

2001

47 (2): Ousmane Cisse, F, St. Jude H.S. (Ala.)

– Yes, he was a second round pick, but still. Cisse was injured and never played for the Nuggets. In fact, he’s only played one game in the NBA in his career. One. But on the bright side, he did play with the Harlem Globetrotters, the now-defunct Fayetteville Patriots of the NBADL, the USBL and now plays overseas.

– Out of this bunch, only Andre Moore played for the Nuggets that season, and he played only seven games. Now, the Nuggets didn’t need him, as they were stocked and won 54 games that year. But if the Nuggets would have drafted no one that night, it would have been equally as good as what they did do that night.

About a calendar year ago, Dahntay Jones was wrapping up a stint in the NBA Development League with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, and Nuggets vice president of basketball operations, Mark Warkentien, was set to invite him to play for the Nuggets in summer league.

Now, Jones is getting ready for the playoffs and hoping to return next season with the team that got him there. The athletic guard is on a one-year contract that expires after the season, and he wants another shot in Denver.

“I would love to come back here,” Jones said. “It’s a great opportunity, a great situation with a bunch of great guys. We’ve been on the same page all year long. Guys are making the sacrifice to be a good team and it’s paying off. Hopefully I’ll have a chance to come back.”

How good was the opportunity? Jones played in a career-high 79 games, getting a career-high 71 starts. The Nuggets were 48-23 when he started and 21-5 when he played 20 or more minutes. He is a defensive specialist and that’s why Warkentien said the Nuggets invited Jones to summer camp last summer in the first place.

“We were going to add some more defense to this mix,” Warkentien said. “And halfway through the camp, Dahntay won (the job).”

The Nuggets signed him to a one-year, $926,678 deal. Jones says feels he’s been able to show what he adds to the team.

“People see what I bring to the table,” Jones said. “It’s just another opportunity that I had to take advantage of. It’s a small portion, what I bring to the table, but it’s an integral portion for what our machine needed.”

He said signing another one-year pact in Denver isn’t out of the question, but will wait and see what happens after the season.

“We just got to take it step by step,” Jones said. “That’s a situation my agent and I will take care of, and just take the best situation for me and my family.”

PHOENIX — The NBA trade deadline is Feb. 19, and there is understandably a lot of buzz here in Phoenix, with teams such as Portland, Chicago and even the hometown Suns rumored to make big deals involving big names, Amare Stoudemire for starters. As for the Nuggets, it appears they are pretty content with the current club, winners of 36 games, second-most in the Western Conference, behind those pesky Los Angeles Lakers.
Earlier today, when asked if he anticipates a Nuggets transaction, coach George Karl said: “I don’t even think I’m taking my cell phone on this five days (off during the all-star break) — that’s how much I probably think there’s not going to be a phone call.”
As always, all the Nuggets front office folks will continue to work the phones, just in case an enticing opportunity pops up.
Karl said he’s going to head up to the mountains in Breckenridge during the time off. Some of the Nuggets brass, notably Rex Chapman and Mark Warkentien, are expected to attend meetings and hobnob here in Phoenix, where the All-Star Game will be played on Sunday. The Nuggets return to action next Wednesday at Philadelphia.

Chris Dempsey arrived at The Denver Post in Dec. 2003 after seven years at the Boulder Daily Camera, where he primarily covered the University of Colorado football and men's basketball teams. A University of Colorado-Boulder alumnus, Dempsey covers the Nuggets and also chips in on college sports.